


Icarus and Bubble Gum

by Lysical



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Bruce Wayne is a Good Dad, Family Feels, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Jason Todd is Robin, Jason is 12, and adorable, handwriting lessons, peaceful protests, sometimes plans backfire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 09:53:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10534050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lysical/pseuds/Lysical
Summary: It wasn't Jason's fault that they couldn't find him. He'd left a note. How was he supposed to know they couldn't read it?He'd done nothing to deserve this.__"Can you read that for me?"Wrinkling his nose, Jason leaned forward and stretched out over the desk to grab the note. He turned it around several times in his hands. "Uh, I was kind of in a rush when I was writing it."Jason could kind of maybe understand why Alfred had trouble reading it, actually. He didn't exactly have the neatest handwriting.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I continue to adore writing young Jason. 
> 
> This is half-prompt, half-idea being foisted upon me by Cerusee.

Jason sulked the entire drive to the manor. He was out of the car and stomping up the steps seconds after Bruce pulled to a stop, and if Alfred hadn't been waiting in the entryway he'd have continued all the way up to his room where he could slam his door behind him.

Instead, Alfred caught him by the shoulders and helped him out of his jacket, clucking his tongue. "We were very worried, Master Jason."

He cringed, staring at the floor. Bruce entered through the front door a second later, closing it behind him.

"I left a note," Jason said, directed to the shiny, polished flooring. His eyes were filling with tears and he didn't even know why.

"Unfortunately, Master Jason, I was unable to decipher the code you used to write it." Alfred folded the jacket. "Thus, when Master Bruce called I had to inform him I had no idea where you were."

He hunched his shoulders and swiped the back of his hand across his eyes.

"A note is not permission, Jason." Bruce had said iterations of the same thing the entire drive back.

"Why do I need to ask permission?" Jason looked up from the floor, narrowing his eyes at Bruce. "I can handle myself!"

"Because I said so." Bruce's hand landed on his shoulder, squeezing gently.

Jason shrugged it off. "That's a stupid reason."

"When you're an adult you can have your own stupid reasons," Bruce replied. "Until then, up to the study. We need to talk."

"You haven't stopped talking since you found me." Jason folded his arms across his chest. "When will the torture end?"

Arching an eyebrow, Bruce gently took him by the shoulders and turned him around, nudging him towards the stairs. "Study."

Heaving an aggrieved sigh, Jason started upstairs, making sure that each footstep echoed with his displeasure. He went to slam the study door closed behind him but thoughts of an even longer lecture had him snatching the handle before it could, closing it softly instead.

He went directly for Bruce's desk and sat in the chair behind it. Old people sitting behind desks thought they had power over him, but if he took their desk away they were just old.

Bruce had left a bunch of papers stacked on the desk. Jason rifled through them, looking for anything interesting or about him. Sometimes the school sent things about him and Bruce wouldn't tell him what they were or let him see them.

"Jason."

He looked up. Bruce stood in the doorway, one eyebrow arched. "Hi, Bruce."

"What are you doing?" Bruce's voice was mild, a warning in and of itself.

"Nothing." Jason slid the papers back on the desk and leaned back in the chair, kicking his feet. "You wanted to talk at me?"

"To you," Bruce said, walking over to sit in one of the chairs opposite the desk.

Jason scowled. "I know what I said."

Bruce's lips quirked. "Jay, I want you to listen to me, not sit there and recite Macbeth in your head until I go away."

Jason narrowed his eyes. "I don't do that."

He did do that, but technically he'd moved on from Macbeth to Hamlet and so it wasn't strictly speaking a lie.

"Jason."

He huffed, settling further back in his seat and putting his hands on the arms of the chair like Bruce did when he was pretending to be intimidating. "Fine. I'll listen. I'll even wait until you finish before telling you how wrong you are."

"Thank you, Jay." Bruce's voice was desert dry but at least he didn't sound mad. He leaned forward and put Jason's note down on the desk. "I want to talk to you about this."

Jason scowled. "You already said your stupid adult reason. I'll ask permission next time, okay?"

"I thought you said you were going to wait for me to finish?" Bruce asked. He pushed the note closer to Jason's side of the desk. "Can you read that for me?"

Wrinkling his nose, Jason leaned forward and stretched out over the desk to grab the note. He turned it around several times in his hands. "Uh, I was kind of in a rush when I was writing it."

Jason could kind of maybe understand why Alfred had trouble reading it, actually. He didn't exactly have the neatest handwriting.

"Alright." Bruce nudged one of his pens across the desk. "Write something for me now."

"Why?" Jason asked suspiciously, taking the pen and flipping it back and forth between his fingers. "Is this another stupid test?"

"Curiosity," Bruce replied, which meant it was another of his stupid tests.

Jason huffed but flipped the note over to the blank side. He tapped his lip with the pen thoughtfully before leaning over and scrawling across the paper. He finished with a flourish and underlined his words several times before stretching over the desk to hand Bruce the note. "It says 'your face is as stupid as your tests'. It's not an insult, it is a literary device."

"It looks like a literary device you're using to insult my face." Bruce looked down at Jason's note. "Okay, Jay. We're going to have to work on this."

"On my insults?" Jason asked. "'Cause I'm fine with that but I wasn't really trying."

"Your handwriting." Bruce set the note aside. "We'll set some time aside every day after school with Alfred."

"But why?' Jason scowled. "We type most of the time at that fancy school you sent me."

"Gotham Academy's coursework is not exclusively typed and you know it," Bruce said. "I've received comments on your handwriting from your teachers. It's time we did something about it."

Jason scowled, staring down at his feet. More time with Alfred wasn't exactly _bad._ "I guess I could try."

"Thank you, Jason." Bruce stood up, coming around to the other side of the desk and ruffling his hair. A second later hands were under his arms, lifting him out of Bruce's chair and setting him on his feet. "Stay out of my desk, young man."

"If you don't want me looking then you shouldn't leave things out for me to look at," Jason said, shrugging and running for the door before Bruce decided to lecture him more.

It wasn't that bad. How long could it take to 'fix' his handwriting, anyway?

***

He had been a fool. A mad fool.

Jason sneaked quietly out of the library. Alfred had gone downstairs to check on dinner while Jason finished his 'exercises' and it was an opportunity that he wasn't going to let pass by. He couldn't bear it. Not for a second longer.

He paused out in the hall, looking back and forth and pondering the best way to go. His room was usually safe, but it would be the first place they looked, and Jason swore that Bruce had put something in the window so he knew if Jason ever tried to leave. He'd tried to smuggle some of the Cave equipment up to his room to find any hidden bugs or alarms but Bruce had stopped him.

Bruce had said that he didn't have anything hidden in Jason's room, but if he didn’t then why would he stop Jason from hauling the equipment up and checking?

Jason turned and went in the opposite direction from the bedrooms. Maybe if he was very quiet he could escape down to the Cave until dinner. It was just as he was creeping past Bruce's study that the door opened and Jason froze on the spot.

"Jason." Bruce stepped out of the study and stood in front of him, blocking his path to the stairs. "You should be in the library with Alfred."

"Alfred went to the kitchen." Jason chewed his lip. "I was going to the bathroom."

Bruce's eyes flicked down the hall. "This is a long way to go when there's one right next to the library."

"I, uh, forgot." Jason looked down at his feet and took a step to the left. Maybe he could run past Bruce while he wasn't expecting it...

"Jason." Bruce took him by the shoulder. "Come on, back to the library. I'll help you while Alfred is busy."

Jason shook his head. "No way. I'm never going back."

"Never?" Bruce asked, sounding amused. "You, Jason Peter, are never going back to the library?"

"Don't be stupid," Jason said, frowning up at Bruce. "Of course I'm going back to the library, all my books are there."

"Your books?"

"I like them more than you do." Jason tried to squirm out of Bruce's grip. "But I'm not going back to do those stupid writing exercises."

Bruce's grip on his arm shifted and then Jason found himself tossed over his shoulder. Bruce started carrying him down the hall, back towards the library.

"Put me down!" He tried kicking his legs but Bruce's arm clamped down around them. "I'll bite you."

"You haven't bitten me in months," Bruce replied, letting Jason slide further down over his shoulder.

Jason scrambled to balance himself, jabbing Bruce in the back with an elbow. "I was just lulling you into a false sense of security."

He yelped as he was dropped suddenly, but Bruce's hand then fastened around his ankle and he found himself suspended upside down off the ground, dangling from Bruce's grip. He glared up at him. "Why are you being so mean?"

"Why don't you want to do the exercises?" Bruce asked, lowering him to the ground and releasing his ankle so Jason could get his hands on the floor and walk on them for a few steps before going over into a handspring.

"They're horrible," Jason said, turning around and pouting up at Bruce. "They're like detention but I don't get to do the fun stuff first to earn it."

Bruce's lips twitched and Jason could see his chest moving as he tried to repress his laughter. "You've been in detention, Jay?"

"Of course I have," Jason said. "I used to fight people during recess. I haven't at the new school, though."

"Let's keep it that way, okay?" Bruce ruffled his hair. "Come on, let's get you back to the library before Alfred comes back."

Jason shook his head and sat down in the middle of the hall. "No. I refuse. I'm staging a protest."

Bruce sighed. "You and your protests, Jay. Are you going to live in the hallway, then?"

"Yes," Jason said. "I'm going to stay here forever and never do the exercises. You can't make me."

"You'll starve." Bruce crouched down in front of him.

Jason shook his head. "Nu-uh. Alfred wouldn't let me starve. He likes me."

"That's true." Bruce leaned forward and tapped him on the nose. "But you know what this hallway lacks? Books."

"Alfred will bring me books," Jason replied, with less certainty this time. Alfred wanted him to do the exercises, too. What if he brought those to the hallway? "And it's only until you give into my demands."

"Oh, is that all?" Bruce chuckled. "You think you can out-stubborn me?"

Jason nodded.

"Well, I shouldn't underestimate you," Bruce said, tipping his head to one side. "You did hit me with a tire iron."

It sounded an awful lot like Jason wouldn't like where this was going.

He needed to head this off before Bruce got any ideas. "Bruce, I'm too tired to do the exercises. I need a nap."

"A nap?" Bruce asked, sounding skeptical.

Jason nodded. "From four to five each day after school."

"Coincidentally the time set aside for your handwriting practice." Bruce reached over, picking him up under the arms and lifting him to his feet. He then straightened up and folded his arms, regarding Jason with an arched brow. "If you're that tired we might have to make your bedtime earlier—or you could stop reading when you're supposed to be sleeping."

Jason sniffed. "You have no proof I do that."

"You fall asleep every night with your face buried in a book, Jay."

Jason shook his head. "Lies and propaganda."

Bruce sighed. "A nap it is," he said, leaning down and sweeping Jason off his feet and into his arms, carrying him off towards his bedroom.

"The only reason I'm letting you do this is because this is the direction I want to go," Jason told him.

"Of course, Jay." Bruce carried him into the bedroom and dropped him on the bed, where Jason bounced a few times and rolled over, reaching for the book on his bedside table. Before he could reach Bruce intercepted it, stacking it on top of his small pile of books and picking them up, taking them over to the shelves. "You said you were tired."

"A nap is quiet reading," Jason said, sitting up and frowning as Bruce put his books away. "Give me my books back."

Bruce turned around, shaking his head. His face was impassive but his eyes were light and amused. "Sleep is very important for growing boys, Jason. It is clear to me now that we've been a bit too lenient with your schedule. Can't have you getting cranky, can we?"

"You're evil," Jason said. "I'm telling Alfred."

"We can go together," Bruce replied. "I also have things to tell him."

Jason had flown too close to the sun. He could feel the flames eating his body and the ground rushing up to squish him. "Bruce, no."

"Enjoy your nap." Bruce walked to the door. "We'll reschedule your writing exercises for after dinner."

Jason let out a miserable whine, but Bruce closed the door behind him and left him to his fate.

"Fine." Jason curled up on his bed, hugged his knees to his chest and sulked. "This means war, Bruce."

***

Two days later, Jason made his move.

“Alfred,” Jason whispered. “I need gum.”

Alfred turned away from the vegetables he was slicing. “Oh?”

Jason crept closer, nodding his head. “I have cravings. I am under a lot of stress with school and the awful, evil handwriting exercises. If I don’t get gum, I’ll go back to smoking.”

“Well, we can’t have that.” Alfred reached up to the top shelf, where he kept the fun things that Jason couldn’t reach without climbing up onto the counter. He handed Jason the packet of gum, raising an eyebrow when Jason unwrapped two pieces and shoved them both in his mouth, chewing obnoxiously, deliberately loud. “Master Jason.”

“I will win,” Jason said, grinning as Alfred’s mouth twitched towards a grimace. “Even if I have to drive everyone insane to do it.”

Alfred sighed. “Master Bruce is down in the Cave. Please drive him insane first, I have dinner to prepare.”

“Okay.” Jason spun around and raced out of the kitchen. “Thanks, Alfie!”

Jason took the stairs down to the Cave two at a time. As always, it was dim and dark. The bats were quiet in the early afternoon, he couldn’t even hear them rustling. Bruce was at the computer, absorbed in research and not yet in costume. He didn’t look over as Jason hopped down the stairs, still chewing away at his gum. Jason threw himself over the back of Bruce’s chair, close enough that his mouth was right next to Bruce’s ear.

“Close your mouth when you chew.” Bruce didn’t glance away from the screen, but he raised his shoulder to shift Jason back.

Jason heaved a sigh, taking the gum out of his mouth and stretching it out between his hands, grimacing as it stuck to his fingers. “What’cha doing?”

“Work.” Bruce’s fingers were light on the keyboard. “Shouldn’t you be upstairs napping?”

Poking his tongue out at the back of Bruce’s head, Jason stretched the gum until it broke, then pushed it together and started all over. “I concede defeat. I’ll do the stupid exercises.”

“You’ll do the exercises anyway,” Bruce replied, voice wry. “But if you stop sulking about them you can do them before dinner and have your evenings free again.”

“I don’t sulk.” Jason stared down at the gum, chewing on his lip. Then, with a shrug, he reached out and shoved it into Bruce’s hair. “But I am taking you down with me.”

The Cave went silent as Bruce stopped typing. “Jason.”

Jason turned on his heel and ran for the stairs and safety.

Alfred wouldn’t let him die.

**Author's Note:**

> And I continue my streak of crying every time I write little Jason. 
> 
> My tumblr is [here](http://lysical.tumblr.com).


End file.
